We started our walking tours in two groups with our local guides, Jana and Nikol. As the center for trade and culture during the Venetian period, Hvar has a lot to offer to its visitors. Our first stop was the Franciscan monastery to see its beautiful art treasures, including the beautiful painting of Last Supper painted by Italian artist Matteo Rosseli.
The monastery is also famous for its garden where we could see the cypress tree growing in unusual ways, and then we continued along the quay to the impressive 16th-century arsenal and the city Loggia. On the main square, we discovered that Hvar is the site of one of the oldest surviving theaters in Europe, where they did not separate common people from nobles.
From the main square we climbed narrow streets to the Benedictine monastery where the nuns still produce lace from agave threads, which is protected by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Then we visited the Sveti Stjepan Cathedral, where our tour finished and the group was able to take some time on our own. Some decided to climb to the Fortress Spanjola, a citadel above town. We had a beautiful sunset during the captain’s welcome cocktail party and exceptional dinner while we continued sailing toward Korcula.
